The invention relates to a bottle rack for the horizontal storage and display of long-necked bottles, typically wine bottles, and particularly to a one-piece rack which supports one or more bottles solely by their necks.
Bottle racks are known for supporting wine bottles with the neck of each bottle extending through a corresponding opening in an upstanding column. U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,389, for example, discloses such a rack which includes a vertical column with a number of holes formed in the column for receiving the necks of wine bottles to provide a support for the wine bottles. This patent also discloses a rack with an inclined flat member with spaced openings for receiving the necks of wine bottles in order to hold the bottles in essentially parallel relationship with the surface on which the rack is supported. U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,038 also discloses such a rack. Cole U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,124 discloses a similar rack for supporting a single bottle.
The rack of the present invention of the same general type as the racks described in the patents discussed above. However, the prior art bottle holders which support a bottle solely by its neck have required multiple parts which had to be separately manufactured and subsequently assembled together. These parts usually consists of a column which supports the bottle, and brackets or base which attach to and support the column. Because these bottle holders consist of at least two pieces of material, they have a rather ungainly appearance. Where a single element has been used for a prior art bottle holder (Cole U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,124), the bottle holding capacity was restricted to but a single bottle, and its construction offered no stability when the holder empty, and only limited stability when holding its one bottle.
The rack of the present invention is formed from a single piece of plastic material, such as acrylic, or other similar material. Because of its one-piece construction, it may be manufactured inexpensively and effectively, without in anyway impairing its ability to perform its intended function, which is to provide a sturdy and stable platform for the support of a multiple number of wine bottles, regardless of whether the rack is full, only partially full, or empty. By eliminating the need for attachments, brackets, screws, nails, clips, glue, etc., the one piece construction of the invention provides for a rack with a pleasing streamlined appearance.
Accordingly, the principal objectives of the invention are to provide a one-piece bottle rack which includes a planar base and an integral inclined planar apertured member formed at one end of the base. The inclined member serves to support a number of wine bottles one above the other, each extending along the base and generally spaced in parallel relationship to the base.
Other objectives of the invention are to provide such a rack which is inexpensive to produce, which is sturdy and stable in construction, and which has a pleasing appearance.